World Tourism Day: A global celebration of sustainable transformation

World Tourism Day 2025, taking place on 27 September, highlights the tourism sector as a driver of sustainable, inclusive, and resilient transformation. This year’s theme, “Tourism and Sustainable Transformation”, organised by UN Tourism, reflects the growing need to rethink the sector in light of global challenges such as climate change, inequality, and digitalisation.

The official celebration is hosted in Melaka, Malaysia, where the World Tourism Conference will take place from 27 to 29 September. At least four European initiatives have already been confirmed, ranging from workshops and forums to cultural activities. The programme includes sessions on inclusive tourism, AI and innovation, and sustainable investment, bringing together policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to explore how the sector can evolve to better serve people and the planet.

Open data plays a key role in supporting sustainable tourism. Platforms like the European Data Portal offer access to public datasets that help destinations plan smarter and more inclusive tourism strategies. By using open data to understand visitor behaviour, manage resources, and improve services, cities and regions can make tourism more resilient and beneficial for all. Explore a wide range of tourism-related datasets on our portal to discover how open data can drive smarter, more sustainable tourism decisions.

You can register for World Tourism Day and join the global celebrations through the official UN Tourism platform. Additionally, the data. Europa Academy recently hosted a webinar titled ‘Data spaces: experience from the European Tourism Data Space’, exploring how data is transforming tourism across Europe. If you’re interested in learning more, you can now watch the recording.